Thank Your Lucky Stars
by Eeveeloutioneer
Summary: An eevee, espeon, umbreon, leafeon, glaceon, jolteon, flareon, and vaporeon's fates are intwined, though they never meet, most try to destroy a branch of Team Rocket called Stardom Underworks before it goes too far, while some fight to keep it toppling.
1. Chapter 1

**Thrill:**

**–verb (used with object)**  
**to utter or send forth tremulously, as a melody.**

Chapter One- Flitt

The dawn's weak light washes over the undisturbed land. Not a single human is in sight, as the pidgey and other bird pokemon wake to thrill their songs. A small figure, silhouetted by the watery beams of light, stands on the crest of a hill. Around its neck is a band like collar, from which hangs a chunk of slate-like rock. Engraved in it are the words: _SBJCT 0249 Section C- Stardom Underworks._

The silhouetted figure paws at the collar, in a vain attempt to pull it off over its head. After a moment, it stops, and sighs, and then looks past the hills towards the Viridian Forest, which lay ahead. After a moment's hesitation, it steps forward, and into better view.

The figure, an eevee, blinks, as hope drains from her eyes. "It's so far…" she whispers to herself. Had she known truly how far she'd have had to travel before she'd run off, it is possible she wouldn't have attempted the feat. "I've been walking for days now, and my feet feel just about ready to fall off my legs!" she cries before flopping onto the grass. "I've been walking for an eternity in the Diglett's Cave, and I've walked forever and a day everywhere else!" With a huff, she scratches at the collar with the curious inscribed stone again "And this damn collar has steel in it, so it won't rip, and I can't get it off, and it itches like Hell!" she snaps. Having lost control of her temper, and with no one to lash out at, she growls and lays her head down, wishing some pokemon or another would come by so she could rip it to shreds, or at least snap at it.

With lips drawn back in a half snarl, she stares melancholy at the forest. In the distance, the green trees wave at her, as though taunting her. "Come here," they seem to sing "we're not that far, come here. Just a few more days… but you probably won't last that long." Defeat makes her ears droop. To herself, she murmurs "It's true, it's so true. I can't make it. I'm going to die in the wild, without my 'trainer', alone, lonely, sad, and within only a few days walking distance from my dream."

A light, but definitely male voice scolds "Now don't be so forlorn and angsty, I'll help you if you want…"

With a growl, the eevee leaps up, turning to face the stranger. "Where did you come from you…" she trails off, not sure what to make of the strange pokemon before her. Tan, and cat like, with a purple collar of sorts around his neck, the pokemon is like nothing she's ever seen. "…What are you?" she says, before snapping her mouth shut. Inwardly, she scolds herself for asking such a rude question.

A light chuckle comes from his mouth "I'm a delcatty. I'm not native to this place. My trainer brought me over from a different land, and lives not far from here. She doesn't mind that I wander far, so long as I get back by nighttime."

Unsure what to make of the flood of information coming from the stranger's mouth, the eevee's ears twitch. "Okay… Well, one of my 'trainers' calls me Flitt. What is yours, delcatty?"

"Omaly is my name."

"Alright, well, I have to go Omaly. My dream is waiting for me…" Though a moment ago she had been moaning, the wish to get away from the fellow Pokemon makes her feet itch to get going. She doesn't truly trust the delcatty, but then again, she never had reason to trust other pokemon.

There it is again, that light chuckle, followed by his soft voice half way demanding "Come with me to a niche nearby. You probably want to rest, before continuing on your 'quest'. I insist, do come with me."

A slight shiver crawls down Flitt's spine when she finds herself unwillingly nodding "Alright… just for a moment or two." Despite her lack of trust, she hadn't talked to another living creature in several days, and she finds herself thirsting for company.

Without another word, the delcatty turns and leads the way through the dewy grass that is yet to be swept by the sun's rays. He skirts around tall grass, reluctant to have to battle and delay the excursion to a secluded area.

"Here we are, I know it's not really a cave, but it's better than nothing." He nods, indicating to an overhanging shelf that covers a good portion of a dried river bed. The dried river bed has grass growing, a good sign that it hasn't been a true river in quite a while. "It hasn't been flooded in years, so you can rest without worry."

After a moment's hesitation, she winds her way through the tree roots that have grown down, partially inclosing the area. "Thanks Omaly." Flitt sighs greatfully and flops onto the cool ground below the shelf.

"Would you like me to get you some berries to ease the swelling and pain of your feet?" He says, looking with concern at the eevee's tender pads.

"No, no, it's fine. I have to get them tough anyway. After all, I plan on becoming a wild eevee in the forest… it sounds much better of a life, if not a bit harder, than what I fled from."

His interest sparked, he says "Why don't you let me massage your feet while you tell me what you're running from."

Something about those deep, expressive chocolate eyes makes Flitt nod. She begins "Well, I don't know where to start. See, I was little… no, I guess I should start before that. When I was an egg… ugh… um… oh. Well, the place where I came from doesn't exist according to the government. It isn't very well known about, but chances are the government does know of its existence. It's called the Stardom Underworks, because it experiments on pokemon, who are considered to descend from alien ancestors. It's less known of than even Team Rocket, but chances are it is just a branch of it. Anyways, one of its favorite species types is the eevee species, obviously because of our DNA. They're learning a lot from us, like how they can cure human diseases, but at our cost. I'm one of the lucky ones who wasn't too badly used. They were studying how many different ways there are for eevees to evolve, and a theory is stress and human relationships. So, for me, they had me live with humans who mainly called me Subject Two Forty-nine. One of them called me Flitt. But anyways, I've been neutered, but then again, I was neutered longer than I can remember… however, eevees, after some time- years, can sort of regrow or get rid of scars and defects. Because of this, after four or five years, they have to have the procedure re-done to make sure they stay fixed. The researchers wanted the one who called me Flitt to give me surgery while I was still awake and able to feel the pain and stress, so they could see if I would evolve, or stay the same… Of course, I decided I'd rather not have to go through surgery fully concious, so I escaped before that could happen…"

Omaly looks at her for a while then says "Oh, alright… what was the operation supposed to accomplish exactly?"

"Um… I'm pretty sure the people wanted to see if my 'bond' with my 'trainer ' and the stress would make me evolve into a new eeveeloution… I know it sounds stupid, but that's not the only thing they do. But, I doubt whatever it is they were going to try to do with me would work. I didn't really like the one that called me Flitt. She thought I was stupid. I mean honestly! In eevee years, I'm as old as she is, about twenty or thirty. I'm no kit that won't hear something said directly in front of me!" A swish of her head illustrates her frustration.

Omaly's attention is drawn to the stone on her collar, which flashed light when Flitt swung her head. "Hey, what is that?"

"Oh, this?" Flitt replies, motioning to her collar, "This is an everstone that's hanging from the collar. The scientists didn't want me to evolve before they wanted me to… not that I would have anyways. I'm not happy with my trainers, they rarely let me level up- in fact, I'm four years old, and I'm only level twenty nine."

Omaly nods, not sure how to reply. Silence grows between them , becoming a wall. Omaly looks down, realizing he had stopped massaging Flitts paws somewhere during her monologue. With a blink, he starts to knead her paws with his, putting a bit more pressure on them then before. Watching him, Flitt finds herself wondering _Why did decide to follow him again? And what the heck possessed me to spew out my life's story at his feet? Am I really growing that desperate for living company? I mean, this stranger is massaging my feet, and we're chatting like we've known each other for years… how odd is this._

Omaly, also seems lost in thought, but eventually he speaks "Hey," he says looking at her "I know my way around the Viridian forest. Why don't you follow me, I can help you get to a safe spot."

"Oh, um, sure… won't your trainer mind?" Meanwhile, in her mind, she is slightly taken aback. _What to do, what to do… I can't say no without seeming stupid, but saying yes means more of this… whatever 'this' should be called._

Oblivious to Flitt's dubious thoughts, he replies "No, it'll only be a few days. I've gone weeks without showing up at my trainer's place, so this shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh… okay…"

Taking her reply as a yes, Omaly smiles "Alright, we can leave in a few minutes, or whenever you are ready."

Flitt attempts a grin. _What have I just gotten myself into? I can't rely on him!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Sintaleate

Electric sparks leap from jagged fur tuff to jagged fur tuff as a deep growl rumbles from his throat. Needle-like fur highly charged with electricity glows brightly. Black abyss eyes narrow as they lock in on a foe. The foe, a wounded ekans, hisses and charges again. But, it is forced to dodge a pin-missile followed by a thunder fang.

"Move it." the ekans demands.

"No." The jolteon replies without hesitation .

"I may be weakened, but I still have some fight in me."

Behind the jolteon, a trainer shouts "Sintaleate, another thunder fang should do the trick." With a nod, Sintaleate, the jolteon, complies. This time, the ekans is not able to avoid it in time, and its scales are punctured by Sintaleate's teeth, which discharge volts upon volts into the ekans' body. The ekans utters a cry, and falls back. Though he hasn't fainted, he is barely able to move. A red and white orb, thrown high in the air, glints as it hurtles towards the snake pokemon. After hitting the pokemon, a red light consumes the ekans, and the ball closes. Once, twice, three times it twitches, the capture device doesn't move again.

With cool composure, Sintaleate trots over to his trainer, who gives him a pat before picking up the ball. "Good job, that should be enough training for the day, let's go to the pokecenter and see if they have a room available." Without looking back, the trainer jogs off.

Sintaleate, tired and wounded, limps behind. With a sigh he says wryly "Sure, go on and leave me behind. I'm sure I'll find you without fainting, or getting caught. I mean, why should anyone, even an adult, worry about his lifelong companion?"

Aching, he limps, favoring his right forepaw. The paw is raw, with acid from one of the ekan's attacks eating away at the flesh. A soft, sharp intake of breath shows that the wound is worse than he thought it would be. "… Eric shouldn't mind if I take a while to get back. I'll just take a detour to wash this off." With a shrug, he veers off the beaten path, and hobbles towards the stream that winds through the plains like a blue iridescent ribbon. Gingerly, he dabs his paw into the pool, hissing with pain. _How ironic, the ekans' acid is making me hiss. _He growls slightly, gritting his teeth as the poison is drawn from his body by the water.

As he stands, with his forepaw dangling in the clear water, a shadow overhead moves rapidly towards him, followed closely by a hoot-hoot. The owl pokemon passes by, only glancing at Sintaleate, circling once, then flying by again. Sintaleate blinks, certain he saw something fall from the bird's foot when it circled over. "I swear, if that bird dropped a message, and doesn't come back for it, I will not look at the message. I will not look at the message. I will not look at the message…" He trails off from his repetition with a sigh. "a quick look to see if he dropped something is all I'll do." A quick glance around the area shows no message, or at least no message that is very obvious to the eyes. With another shrug, he tests his paw, and finds it is slightly better. He grumbles"That acid wound must be getting to me, I swear I saw something fall… Hmph, well, I'd better to the pokecenter to be healed." He plods wearily back to the trail and towards the town.

Fuchsia's bustling streets are crowded with pedestrians who pay Sintaleate no mind as he limps towards the pokecenter. Most of the people walking through the streets this time of day are men and women returning from their work. Every day, around this time, they see the same jolteon padding towards the pokecenter. His being injured has occurred so much, they no longer seem concerned when they see him hurt or limping, for they all know the pokecenter will heal him.

Today, there is the typical swarm of uncaring people, but among them is a child who does. The child, seeing Sintaleate hurt, walks towards him then shoves an oran berry in his face "Here jolteon, eat this!" Sintaleate looks at her, surprised by a stranger's kindness. He eyes the berry before gingerly taking it from the toddler's hands. Just as he does, a purse comes swooshing towards him. With a thud, it hits his bruised side. He yelps and skitters back a few yards.

"Get away from my child!" a woman screeches, yanking her child away from him. "Sweetie pie, are you alright?" she coos, examining her child for any scratches

"Mommy, I was just feeding the pokemon."

"Don't give it your berry, you said you wanted to give it to your friend's pet."

"This pet needed it more mommy, Kaleb's rattata isn't hurt."

As the two humans continue talking, Sintaleate slinks away. The pokecenter is nearby, and he can see his trainer standing by the door. Eagerly, he trots up to him as his trainer says "Sin, where have you been?"

"Oh, just eating your dust while you ran ahead, not really caring whether or not I could keep up while injured." He says, but to his trainer's ears, his words are just repetitions of his species' name. His owner, oblivious to his pokemon's wry comment, pats Sintaleate's head.

Irritated, Sintaleate growls softly to himself. Instead of making his needle sharp fur stand on end to prick his trainer, he merely walks to the pokecenter door, and walks in when the door opens automatically. The cool air washes over him, and he finds himself relaxing. Eric and he have been staying at the pokecenter for the past few weeks, and will stay until they decide to move on.

"Oh, hello Sintaleate," Nurse Joy chirps, then nods when his trainer comes in "Hello Eric." With a smile, she gets a chansey to lead Sintaleate to the back room, though he has been there so often, he could easily walk there by himself.

Once in the back evaluation room, the chansey turns to him and smiles "So Sin, what have we gotten into this time?" Examining him, she chortles "You've got an acid wound, and you went through quite a pounding." Bustling about, she gets a bag of cool ice, and a potion, and an antidote. "Here Sin, sit down, and give me your right forepaw." Without a word, he sets his spikey yellow paw in her pink ones. A squirt of antidote makes the stinging leave, and a few sprits of potion reduces the pain and starts healing the wound.

"Thank you for the help Chansey, I'll be on my way now." He nods to his friend and gets up to leave.

"No, sit back down, we've gotta ice that bruise on your side. Where you run over by a graveler or something like that?"

"Close, but no cigar. First I fought with an ekans, then a woman walloped me with her purse."

Pursing her lips, the chansey clucks to herself. "You always go through quite a battering each day…" Trailing off, she focuses her attention on icing his side.

"Well that's life. Hey, can I go lay outside in my room with the bag of ice? These examination tables are not very comfortable."

"Sure, go ahead. But, keep the ice on for at least another ten minutes. No strenuous work, or running for tonight. Before you go to sleep, I'll have someone drop off a pain reliever and some moo-moo milk for you."

With a grin, he says "What would I do without you?"

"Oh, probably just get yourself killed. Have a good day Sintaleate."

With a nod, he strolls out of the room and towards his. Luckily, the door is not closed, so he is able to slip inside and rest. A love sofa by an open window provides him a very comfortable place to sleep. His eyelids droop, and as he finds himself starting to doze, something lands next to him.

"Idiot, didn't you get the message I dropped?"

With a snarl, Sintaleate leaps up, his fur standing on end. However, his needle like fur slices through the plastic bag which the ice is in, and sends ice scattering across the floor. He looks at the source of the voice, and sees the hoot-hoot that passed overhead when he was rinsing his paw earlier. "What do you want?" he snaps.

"… Crap… You're not Illem, are you?" The hoot-hoot closes his eyes and mutters something under his breath.

"No, I'm not."

Desperation tinges the hoot-hoot's voice when he says "Did you just so happen to pick up the letter I dropped?"

"No, I couldn't find it."

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap. He's going to kill me. What if it got lost? What if it-"

"Here, let me help you find it." Sintaleate, unable to watch the distressed hoot-hoot fret, speaks before he thinks.

However, it seems like the owl pokemon didn't hear. He continues speaking "He's going to skin me alive, and then beat me with my own kidney. I'm so screwed if it's lost…"

Gingerly, Sintaleate pokes the pokemon "Let me help you find it."

The hoot-hoot blinks "… If you can't help me find it, my boss is going to be sooo pissed off. Let's go, quickly!" He takes off, with Sintaleate following close behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just in case there is anyone reading this… you know, I won't bite your head off if you review… I'd actually sort of appreciate it… **

**Warning: Gore, death, blood, and guilt. Bon Appetit **

Chapter 2- Kriptik

As evening fades, giving way to night, a black figure melts from the shadows. Golden rings glow, as crimson, blood lusting eyes blink. Ivory fangs glint in the light cast from the rings. The golden rings glow a soft yellow, more downy than the fur they are made of, but the soft light contrasts the dark deeds to occur.

Without a single sound, the umbreon dashes from the foliage across the clearing, to a patch of long grass. There, she lays in wait, hiding near the entrance to Diglett's Cave. Not far away, Vermilion City's lights flash in defiance to the dark night.

A rustling is ignored, there is no pain laced panting that she, the umbreon is searching for. Her quarry is wounded, though not by her, rather, by her associate. Her ears flicker back and forth, searching the area for any noise. However, her attention to detail is uncalled for, because a crash, followed by a barely suppressed curse meets her ears. Cautiously, she makes the light from her rings diminish, until the rings are the same color as her sable fur. Alert ears twitch as her feet bring her towards her adversary. However, despite her caution, her prey still hears her.

A wartortle's eyes meet hers. "So, we finally meet." He pants softly, from nervousness, but more from pain. The source of his pain is evident; there is a long infected wound on his neck. There is a break, where the shell over his shoulder is, and then it continues to his forearm.

The umbreon nods "I see you've made it this far, Messenger."

"I intend to make it all the way."

"Well, your job is done, I suggest you go back to Stardom Underworks now, or never go anywhere again."

"…" The wartortle pauses, and then muses "… Kriptik… what a name for you. Is it truly yours?"

"Yes." She blinks, but is not truly surprised that the wartortle would be able to guess her name. After all, after countless deaths of messengers, and an occasional ones living to spread the word, it is not surprising that her name is told in dark stories. She sighs, eager to get her gory job over with. "Now you're off topic. I'll give you twenty seconds to turn and run, then I'll follow… I can't promise you'll make it back alive if you don't run fast enough."

"Fine, I'll start running."

With a nod, she lets her guard down slightly, giving him a cynic smile. "Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…" As she counts, the wartortle pauses, as if unsure what course of action to take. Then, without warning, he rapid spins her, however, she obviously expects it, because she dodges then sends a shadow ball hurtling towards him. "Ten, nine, eight…." His shell protects his vital organs, but his face and legs and tail are scorched, and smoldering, he lets loose a howl. With a fierce grin, Kriptik walks up to him as she continues counting "Two… on- wait, I'll pause the timer so you can answer some trivia questions."

"Suuure." The turtle pokemon spits sarcasm out with his words.

Sauntering up, she looks down at him. "I'll start easy, what is your name."

"I'll pass."

Eyes narrow, as she tries to keep the cold attitude survivors' stories tell of. "Wrong answer." Without a pause, she uses iron tail to smash the wartortle's hand. As he yowls, she continues "Where are you from?"

"You already know."

"Why, yes, I do, you're going from Stardom Underworks, to one of three or four places." She snarls slightly, the looms over the wartortle, as if about to charge another shadow ball. When he flinches, she snickers. "Now, be a gentleman and tell me where you're going."

"Oh, that's none of your concern… assassin."

"Tisk, tisk, what is this? You've forgotten where you're going? Here, let me help you remember." She fires another shadow ball, this one is strong enough to dissolve the flesh of his tail off the bone, thus eliciting a howl. "Third and final question, what is your message?"

"A secret code."

" You'll never learn, will you? Well, here's a final chance, do you want to answer any of my questions you decided not to?"

He swallows slightly, then says as his face hardens "You'll end up killing me one way or another, I might as well die with my secrets."

"Suit yourself."She shrugs. Then her ears perk as she chirps "Oh, and I just remembered, I didn't finish counting. I'll start from three… three, two, One." with that, she slits his throat, letting his life run red to the ground. As he gurgles, clasping his charred hands around his throat, as if trying to keep his blood from draining, she smiles, and puts her face next to his. "You silly, silly turtle, I sure hope you have no family, because if you do, I'm going to get them as well, so they can tell me what they know…" His eyes become wide, and at this, she chuckles coldly as he dies.

The anticipation, the adrenaline that jolts like lightning through her veins before a kill fades, leaving not a trace of the blood thirsty umbreon she was inside. As she feels it leave, she looks with pity at the dying creature before her. Her blood spattered coat feels sticky, and she uses it as an excuse to look away from the wartortle, to turn her back to him as he dies while she grooms. Once his life has washed the grass red, and the spark in his eyes has faded, she looks at his dead body. With a sigh, she feels her ears drooping. Softly, she murmurs "He isn't the messenger that attacked my trainer, and maimed Houndour so badly he had to be put down… I killed that messenger a while ago, in cold blood. That wartortle wasn't a killer… I was, am, will be." She whispers to herself, sitting by the corpse and waiting.

After a while, a Raticate scampers towards her, showing not a single drop of fear. Her eyes glitter as she says "Wow, that's quite a mess." Nodding to the corpse and blood, she smiles "I bet he had it coming a loooong time ago." She pauses, waiting for a response, then, looking towards her friend, she sighs "Kriptik, not again! Honestly, it's an evil wartortle, he deserved to die."

At this statement, Kriptik leaps up; fur bristling, and her poisonous sweat glands making the air smell acidic. "Don't say that Tress, if you do, you'll regret it!"

"Ach, you and I both know you wouldn't hurt me, silly psyduck ."

"_He_ didn't kill my best friend. _He _didn't make my trainer see the worst in all pokemon! _He_- that wartortle over there- _he_ was a messenger delivering a damn message, and doing whatever the Hell it was that his superiors told him to! _He _is not the arcanine that did all that!"

"Cripple, he might not have been, but he was working for the wrong side!"

"What if we're on the wrong side? What if? We take orders from _our_ superiors to kill, most of the time we do it without question! We kill these enemies, because our bosses tell us they are bad, they kill, and they, our foes work with evil!"

"Cripple, you're not listening to yourself, you just said they were evil. You know they're evil, I mean, that arcanine that did that to you was on our foes' side."

"Tress, don't call me Cripple!"

The raticate looks at her colleague, and sighs "You can deny it all you want, but you my friend, but, that is your nickname." The infuriated umbreon opens her mouth to continue shouting, but Tress wraps her tail around her muzzle, silencing Kriptik. "You're losing your temper, you kill because you are good at it, you look intimidating, and you have a thirst for evil blood. Now shut up and let's get rid of this corpse before someone finds it." The raticate lets her tail off of her friend's mouth, and starts towards the dead wartortle.

"No, I won't, we are going to talk, or we are going back to see our superior and as-" Kriptik is slashed across the face by her friend's tail.

"Shut up Kriptik, please, we can talk where it is safe."

Grimly, Kriptik nods, then moves towards the wartortle. Looking down, she speaks softly, unsure whether she is apologizing to the wartortle for his death, or Tress for losing her temper "I'm sorry, please… forgive me."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Netel

Kritketot melodies echo through the Viridian Forest as black clouds are driven away from the land. The sweet scent of rain lingers in the air, perfuming the morning, and accenting the sun's rays. Among the foliage, something that looks like the leaves around it crinkles. A sigh like the whisper of dry autumn leaves escapes from a tan muzzle. Almond eyes blink in the light as they track the flight of butterfree, beedrills, and other flying pokemon.

With a stretch, the leafeon pads from the belly of the briar patch. Though he appreciates the beauty of the forest, he can't help but compare it to the forest he came from almost two years ago. It is full of life, and sunny. But, when there are storms, boy does it storm. The raging weather is almost as bad as it was in the defining point in his life.

A while back, his pokeball was stolen by some gang or another, and taken aboard a ship with multiple others. His guess is that tempest tossed, the ship rocked enough for some pokeballs, his included, to roll into the raging sea, to be pushed to an unknown land, and found by mysterious pokemon. But, from there, he knows exactly what happened. His pokeball was opened, not by humans, but by pokemon. A group of pokemon, lead by a majestic persian was gathered around when he materialized from his ball. They took him in, feed him, and after a while he'd decided to stick with the group. Later, he had realized the group was actually an organization... almost to be considered another gang. None the less, he'd decided to stay with them, but in return for their shelter, he –like any other pokemon- had to work. And so, he found himself here, in this home away from home, following the progress of other coworkers, standing by to help should it be needed, andreporting to a butterfree who flew and reported to someone else.

Thinking of that butterfree, his brow furrows. _Where is she?_ He wonders _it's almost noon, and she still hasn't come yet… I hope the storm didn't knock her off course._ Discontent, he stamps a brown socked paw. Scouring the sky before him, he searches for the butterfree. A fierce wind streaks through the forest, making the wisps of green fur around his legs, chest, and at the nape of his neck wave around. As it does, it also tosses a weary butterfree into sight. Seeing his friend, he leaps up and down, shouting for her attention. Catching sight of her colleague, she makes a bee line for him.

Elegant white and black wings pierced by many golden rings quaver as they bring the butterfree to her location. Her long blue back legs have what seem to be tendrils upon tendrils of black ink streaked over them. As the legs touch to ground, the leafeon receives a better view of the 'ink patterns', which in truth are multiple ribbon like tattoos. Seeing her friend ogling her legs, she says "I see you're looking at my new tattoos. Ya like 'em?"

A grin stretches itself across his tawny face as he nods "Course I do Stiffel."

Stiffel nods and flutters her wings in approval, making the ten or twenty rings jingle. "So, Netel, do ya' have anything? Any news, any requests, and ideas?"

"Do I ever?"

"No, 'cause you're not one of those other bitchy problem children that report to me, constantly complaining or saying 'I need this, I need that, get it to me NOW!'"

Netel's eyes glint in amusement and he replies jokingly "I'm not your child, you're too old to be my mother."

"Ooh, I see, is that how you wanna be?" Stiffel replies, playing along. "Let's see who's really the old one here, Netel."

"Pfft, you're the same age as me, but I'm ten times better than you!" with a play growl he leaps towards her, as she flutters away.

She sends a small gust towards him, which he easily dodges. As he prepares to do a move, she interrupts him and says "Wait a minute, wait a minute, gimme a moment to catch my breath, I just got here from battling a humongous storm, thank ya very much!"

Mildly concerned, he inquires "Do you want to rest?"

"No, I want something to eat. You don't have any berries on you by any chance, do you?"

His ears twitch, and he guiltily replies "No, I ate the last one yesterday…"

"Eh, It's fine. I've gotta get going anyways, I'm already off my schedule as it is. Seeyah later." As Stiffel turns to leave, a beedrill comes racing in their direction. Netel's fur bristles, as he prepares to fight it off, but the butterfree cuts him off "Don't, this beedrill only comes out with extremely important news. Be respectful, I really have to go now." Without a goodbye, she flies off, attempting to make it appear casual.

The beedrill hurtles closer, then stops a few feet above Netel's head. He buzzes "Message to Netel Leafeon. Operator thirty seven has found the target, and requests you start searching this forest for a delcatty and eevee. Once found, stand by for further notification!" Without wasting a second, the beedrill hurtles off again, and is soon far from sight.

Alert, and excited Netel sets off at a trot, determined not to fail. _This is urgent, my first SFO this year!_ Though mildly hungry, he doesn't stop, for he can simply use photosynthesis to attain the nutrients he needs.

As he paces across the land, a shadow swoops over him as Stiffel approaches "Net," she calls "any last requests for anything before I return to base?"

"Three lum berries, and several sitrus berries if you please." With a nod, the butterfree veers off and heads south, while Netel moves east to the edge of the forest where he will begin his search.

His tan fur is matted with burrs by the time he reaches the eastern most edge of the Viridian Forest. With an low growl, he finds a secluded area to hide in, plops his bottom on the ground, and begins the arduous process of untangling the little spiky pods from his short fur.

As his is doing so, he is carefully monitoring the area, looking about for the telltale signs of traveling pokemon. As he does, he muses _An eevee, just like I was… how interesting. What could he or she have done to piss of the PP and SU-TR branch so much that they send someone to watch him or her and wait for the notice to execute him or her? And a delcatty? What strange company this eevee keeps…_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- Conflegreat

_Charcoal eyes smoldered in the dark room, and the reek of fear, sweat… and an unnamed essence floated about. Short, rust colored and long silky yellow fur brushed against cold steel framework, as muscles strained to move. She was strapped to steel, unable to move. Her neck, nor her legs, nor her body… nothing was able to move. Eyes darted about, searching for a way out, as mouth strained against a muzzle. Muffled noises, mewling noises, pushed against the muffler on her mouth, as she called for help. However, none came, and her eyes dilated as she felt the air chill as a presence emerged behind her, and approached her from behind, his intentions clear. Air snorted from her nostrils turned to wisps of fog in the dismal frigid room, which faded into the dark. She hoped, she prayed that the waking nightmare would end soon…._

Sharp light pierces closed eyes, and a small sphere at her side begins to shake. As it does, black eyes fly open to watch it. The sphere is a tan egg speckled with red, blue, yellow, green, purple, black and bluish white dots. As joyful as the experience should be, worry plagues the mother to be. "Please, please, please, for the safety of your life, you must be a girl…" she whispers to it. In response to her words, the egg shakes twice as hard, as the youth inside it strains to get out. A chip, at the top, breaks a teeny layer of the egg shell, and leaves a membrane to be broken through. The chip in the egg, about the size of a dime, encourages the mother. The mother's feet shift, and make hay rustle in the cozy dim sleeping box turned nesting box. She coos to the egg "Come on child, come on… though I'd hate for you to hatch from your prison, only to find yourself in a larger prison, you must. You'll hatch in a few hours, and then lay on the warm hay in a small box as I clean you and feed you. Then, eventually, you'll escape the box only to find yourself in a larger cage, one maybe three feet wide, ten feet long, and five feet tall… basically a pokémon run. And even that cage will be in a cage, it will be in a huge cement building that houses many other pokémon and pokémon kennels… and even that building is probably one of many… Then, one day you'll be taken-out of the kennel, out of the building, and into the world- and put in a smaller prison, a pokéball that is smaller then the egg prison you are currently in, then given to the human who pays for you. From there, I don't know what will happen… and even then, that 'happy' life is only for you if you are female…"

Gloom is swept away as the small portion of exposed membrane is broken, and a tiny button nose pokes out to breathe its first breath. Then, the little figure pushes more and more as the mother breathlessly says "there you are, come on now, just push a bit more!" the kit responds by mewling in return, and pushing harder. Together, the mother and kit encourage each other for the next few hours as the tan egg cracks, and piece by piece, it falls apart. A small eevee kit flops out, panting and mewling it calls for help. The mother responds, frantically licking it to dry it. Once dry, she lays on her side, letting the kit take its first few gulps of rich milk. After it is satisfied, it curls up, and appears dead to the world.

The mother, a young flareon smiles to herself. This is her fifth kit, and hopefully, this one will survive, for she loves it dearly, despite its bitter beginnings. "Now, kit, let's figure out your gender. She nudges the youth to get a better look at it. As she does, she feels horror make her stomach knot. "Not again…" she murmurs, fighting back tears, as she looks at her content son.

As the turmoil of horrible feelings consumes her, voices from outside her box, outside her cage, carry to her ears. "… only a twelve point five percent chance it will be female, hopefully the fifth time is the charm…."Before she can react, the cage door squeals open, protesting movement, then the top to the nesting box is tossed off, and a gloved hand reaches in, carelessly grabbing the kit. The voice proclaims "Look, she's had a kit!" The kit yips, frightened out of his dear young mind. The flareon growls, and though she desperately wishes to send an ember into the human's eye, she dares not, for fear of her son's safety. "Now now Conflegreat, don't be snappy." Conflegreat bares gnashes her teeth, barely suppressing a snarl. "Oh, Connie, you did fine, your little kit is beautiful." The large hands which engulf the kit flips him over, for the human to examine. "Oh… it's another boy," the human turns to his assistant and says "Nodel, check to see if there are any more slots for male kits left."

The sound of flipping paper rustles against Conflegreat's sensitive ears, as the assistant says "No, they have all been filled up."

"Do any of our mass customers like Trainers Galore, or Stardom Underworks have an order to be filled?"

"No. D-do you think one of the professors in one of the regions would take him as a starter?"

The human scoffs "Of course not, they only take the starters for their regions."

"But, once, Professor Oak bought an eevee from this company to give it as a starter."

"That was once… just once."

"What a shame."

"No use getting so up tight about one simple eevee kit. He isn't perfect enough to be kept as stock and stud here… he'll just have to be put up."

"Sir, if you want, I can buy him and keep him, he is very nice, even this young."

"Unfortunately, here at Pedigree Pokémon, you can't just take kits, even unwanted ones of the wrong gender… you have to buy them. If you want a male, you'll have to purchase one, and the options would be one of the twenty male kits kept to be sold, basically not this one."

"…right..." the assistant's face falls. Upon seeing the look of panic, fear, and rage upon the mother flareon's face, the assistant hurriedly says "Maybe you should put him back, Connie doesn't seem all that pleased."

"Can't, it's against protocol, he is to be disposed of immediately, if there are not open slots for the buyable males."

Without another word, they close the top of the once nesting box, now sleeping box. Too quickly, before Conflegreat can react, they are gone with her son in hand, the door to her kennel locked tight behind them. Fiery tears spill over her face as she silently wails to herself. _Why? Why couldn't he have been female? Why? If he had been, he would have been able to stay with me a few weeks, then move on to a guaranteed loving home! They never say no to female eevees, because everyone wants a damn female eevee!_ Blinded by despair and rage, she hurls herself against the chain link wall of her cage the sits down, despondent to the world. The rattles of the cage draws attention to the mother, as older female pokémon, everything from eevees to raichu, look on while feeling similar pains in their souls'.

"Connie, Connie, snap out of it." Whispers pokémon from the run adjacent to her kennel's. Conflegreat picks her head up off the hard cement, and looks across the walking space between the cages, through the linked fence, to Peony, the piplup.

"I've had five children in my lifetime, and every single time, they were born males, when there when the quota for males needed to be kept so they could be sold was full. I gave birth to certain death."

"Conflegreat, I'm sorry… I truly am. At least every one of my children are taken, and sold to people wanting exotic pokémon, or to professors of the sinnoh region to be given away as starters."

"Peony, it isn't your fault, nor mine." She replies fiercely to the older pokémon.

The piplup pauses, and then haltingly says "You remind me of the leafeon that was in the cage before you came…"

"what happened to her?"

"She was kind, but determined, and so hopeful an- wait… what did you ask?"

"What happened to her?"

"Oh… well... you see….."

"Quit beating around the bush, and _tell_ me!" Conflegreat hissed under her breath, careful to keep her voice from carrying too far.

"She uh, sorta fought against the people, and resisted when they tried to take away her male kit. The people took her away as well…"

"She... revolted?"

"I think she wasn't quite sane…"

"… That's an idea… to revolt…. It's a good idea in theory…."

"No, that's a stupid idea."

"No, no, think about it, pokémon are stronger, smarter, and faster then humans. We can understand the,, but they can't understand us. In theory, it could work perfectly… and I know I'd revolt for my dead kits," she says fiercely, black eyes smoldering with a ray of hope, "… wouldn't you do that for your lost chicks?"

Reluctantly, Peony whispers "yes, yes I would."

"I might not know what's beyond these concrete walls, what the wilderness is truly like, but chances are it is better than the misery that is in here." She whispers fiercely.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, I know people are reading this,** **so I'm going to assume no review s is a good thing. But seriously, if the chapters are too cliché, to fast or slow, to long or short, or just plain boring, feel free to tell me. I swear I won't bite you if you do. Your thoughts are greatly apprecitated, be they voiced in three words or three hundred.**

Chapter six- Feern

A small group of haggard pokemon staggers towards the icy blue creature, who stands in front of a small hole in the ground. "This way, this way," he calls to them, "come this way!" They look up towards him, and stagger up the jagged hill, trying to stumble over rocks under paw. As the group approaches, the icy figure calls out "Leader, where did this batch come from? The SU or PP?"

"Glaceon, can I trust you?" replies the leader, a nimble hoofed stallion ponyta.

"Have not many other paws walked this path before you, bringing their mareep to rest here?"

"Nay and yay oh fellow friend o' fiends."

The glaceon visibly relaxes once the formality code was completed perfectly. He chuckles and replies "Call me Feern, Ponyta."

The ponyta whinnies "FireFoot is the name. Oh and to answer your question, this are Pedigree Pokemon that went to Stardom Underworks, but managed to find a smuggler who got them out, and to me." The leader of the group looks behind to his followers and says "We'll rest here for a day, then move on. If lady luck is at our side, we'll make it to our destination by the end of the week."

One of the six refugees replies "Wait, I thought we were going to-"

The ponyta shakes his head wearily "No, there's been a change of plan… I've learned that your pursuers have learned of our first destination, we're going further, to Cinnabar Island."

Feern nods, then turns to address the group. "Through this entrance," he motions to the small hole in the ground with his tail, "there is a large cave that can hold all of you with ease. Food and water are there, help yourself." Mumbles of appreciation escape the pokémons' mouths as they file in, careful not to fall. Feern looks at the FireFoot, then realizes the ponyta is too tall to squeeze in. He motions to him to follow, then leads the ponyta to the top of the hill, towards a copse of trees and bush. "You'll be hidden from unwanted eyes, but you'll be able to monitor the whole area if you wish."

FireFoot snorts, then nods towards the glaceon. "Aren't you a bit too far south for your species and a bit out of the right region?"

"Eh, I'll live, route twelve isn't as bad as it could be, though it certainly isn't route two seventeen in Sinnoh."

"Were you traveling when you leveled up and evolved there? I imagine it's one of the few explanations of why you'd end up here."

"No, not quite. My parents, a glaceon and a sneasel, raised me up there, then after a while decided a for a change of scenery. We traveled rather far down, and even snuck on a boat to get to this region." he chuckles lightly, "And, a while ago, I got so sick of constantly moving, that I decided I'd live right here on this hilltop, and dug that cave out with my own paws."

"Then how'd you get into this business?"

"I'd see small groups of exhausted pokémon staggering by every month or so, and I got curious. I realized the pokémon rested not far from my cave, and decided to offer it to them as shelter for the night… now realizing what those groups were, I'm surprised they took my offer and followed me home instead of being suspicious. But, anyways, after that, I guess word spread, and though I don't really know when, I was sorta excepted as a shelter stop. What about you?"

FireFoot grins. "My grandpa was one of those escapees who decided to do something to help. My dad had nothing to do with this; it was my grandpa who introduced me to this field of work, and I love it. Always have, always will."

For a while, the two pokémon stay at the hill, watching clouds form and drift about as the sun begins to sink. After a while, Feern stretches and says "I'll be off to make sure those pokémon are alright. Have a safe evening." With that, he meanders the few yards down the hill and slips through the hole and down a short tunnel to a good sized cave, lit by mirrors and shards of glass strategically placed around the room to catch the rays of light that find their way in to the cave, and to disperse them.

One of the pokémon, a haggard nedoran, picks up his pink head and asks "Do you know what'll happen to us once we reach Cinnabar Island?"

"Chances are you'll be found willing guides to help you get to where you'd normally live in the wild. After that, the guides will find willing locals to help you acclimate to your new lifestyle."

Another pokémon speaks up amid the group "Will we be safe?"

"Safer than where you came from… where did you come from?"

"Pedigree Pokemon."

"… Can you be more specific, maybe the town or city? There are three or four major locations in this region, and there are a few outside this region –not counting lots of smaller locations- each major location having five or six buildings, each building holding about three hundred pokémon."

The nidoran speaks again for the group "We don't know, we were in that building almost all our lives, the humans never bothered telling us where we were."

"Do you know which Stardom Underworks lab you were transported to?"

"I think it was someplace outside of Cerulean City, by route nine…how many other labs are there?"

Feern sighs "In every town, there is typically one small one, more of a base then an actual lab- which are used to hold pokémon being transported further away, and other functions. There are larger actual labs in almost every single city in this region. I believe there are only three or four places that do not have any signs of the SU, one of them is Cinnabar." He, distracted for a moment, looks away as he speaks. "Oh, and there's more to tell you-" looking up to see the despair scrawled across their faces makes him stop and say something other then the rest of the information "- but, it can wait until tomorrow."

The withheld information forms like a heavy stone in his heart. The worst, most discouraging part is that their own kind has turned against them; for even other pokémon have started supporting Stardom Underworks. Even without being told to by their masters, they go make sure the suppressed pokémon behave and stay in line… they even recruit other pokémon to help their cause, thus helping to spread evil. They kill those suspected of trying to help the pokémon trying to escape, without blinking, without sympathy. Feern shudders slightly, thinking that morbid train of thought. Then, something more optimistic raises his spirits.

To the pokémon, he says "I actually have an encouraging tale to tell you before you all rest. Is there anyone who would rather not hear it?" of course no one protests, so he begins. "Though the PP and SU repress pokémon, there are those who strive to free them. Average, everyday pokémon strain to help their fellow beings, and they resist against Stardom Underworks. The group doesn't have a name, for none is needed. Pokémon can say 'resistance' or 'freedom' or even '_hope'_, and this group comes to mind. With such powerful descriptions, a name would merely mar the purity and goodness. I, a simple glaceon, am part of this group. You, hopeful pokémon, are the reason I –we- labor so much. Together, we, even those who don't join the group against the SU, we can help our fellow beings. It is thought Mew and Azelf worked together to create the founder of this group, but I doubt it. I feel it was the morals of normal pokémon that moved them to act, and eventually form a group to save others these past ten or twenty years. The group is young, but strong. There is a system in it, someone who runs it, we are at the very fringes of the system, but, even the gossamer fringes of the group are powerful enough to touch our lives and save you from your fate. Isn't it wonderful what cooperation of everyday pokémon with a cause can do?"

The youngest of the group has fallen asleep, and her sides rise and fall gently, but the four others' eyes are glued to Feern as he speaks. Awestruck, one simply breathes "yes it is." The other's don't know what to say. Finally, after a moment's pause, the same nidoran sits up and declares "As soon as I'm out of this mess and know how to fend for myself, I'm going to help get my friends from there!"

An older arbok shushes the nidoran "You can think of that later, focus on staying alive."

Feern nods "He's right, you must focus on staying healthy and alive… resting would be a good place to start. Good night all." With that, he gets up and moves outside, away from the others. Once in the open air, he moves off a bit, by a larger rock. He nestles down besides it and keeps an eye on cave entrance, prepared to attack should anything approach. To keep his mind stimulated, and to ward off sleep, he focuses on small mental and physical tasks, all the while watching over his cave.

First, he practices freezing his fur to make it needle-like, then he focuses on making the chill on his fur increase, then decrease. He continues in this fashion, making up exercises as he goes, doing anything to ward off the urge to sleep that hovers behind his eyes and grows stronger as the night wears on.

By the time the dew is shining in dawn's new light, he feels just about ready to collapse. However, a jolt of movement around the den momentarily pushes away fatigue, and he bolt up right, ready to fight should the movement be caused by anything but FireFoot or one of the refugees. A closer look reveals FireFoot, calling into the cave to the sleeping pokémon. Slowly, they stumble out, rubbing sleep from their eyes.

A smile turns the edges of Feern's mouth upwards as he pads towards them. "Have a safe journey Firefoot, take care."

"I will, and thank you greatly for your help."

"I'm not done giving help, I still have more to offer. Would you be able to carry a light pack of food on your back?"

"Of course."

"Then here, take this." The glaceon darts inside the den and forages around until he is able to pull out a small pack of berries and pokéfood. "Don't ask where I got this…" he says with a smile as he helps FireFoot sling it over his back. To the group of traveling pokémon, he says "May fortune smile upon you, and Lady Luck never leave your side."

A chorus of goodbyes meet his ears as the pokémon start walking. Feern keeps watch over them until they are out of sight, then he retires to his cave for rest.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven- Shinoke

A small yawn brushes past needle sharp teeth, as cobalt blue- almost black- eyes squeeze shut. A sleek body lithely stretches, making darker blue ridges roll up and down with the body. Sleek fur, not unlike that of a seel's, makes the body appear smooth and flawless. Yellow ear-fins fall to pin back as a pink tongue curls upon itself inside the cavernous mouth. After a moment, the mouth snaps shut, and blue eyes blink twice, to focus on their surroundings.

A woman sits not far away at a desk, typing furiously, completely absorbed in her work. The walls are cold concrete, but the room is well lit. Aside from the desk, the light shines on a leather chair with a petite table by its side. A rug prevents decorates the floor, which like the walls, is cement. Also, upon the floor, is a bright yellow cushion, on which the pokémon viewing the room is sprawled. Her ears pick up other pokémons' calls which echo about outside the room.

The woman, with long brown hair that is loosely tied back and glasses that perch upon her nose, turns around, to look at her pet. With a smile, and a voice conserved only for small babies and pokémon, she coos "Shnookie Wookie Wookems, vaporeon darling, how are you?"The object of her coos is an average vaporeon. The only thing that sets her apart from any other pokémon is that one of the ridges at her scruff has a hole driven into it, through which a thin chain is looped, so it hangs from her neck, with a pendant swinging from it, irremovable unless the chain be broken. The pendant, a simple silver oval tag, has words stamped in it, which are as follows: Stardom Underworks, Section A, Katelyn.

To her trainer's ridiculous voice, the vaporeon replies "I was perfectly fine until you used that stupid 'pokevoice' of yours." Her voice is mildly cynic, and reflects the tone of voice her trainer typically uses. Her tail twitches irritably as eyes narrow slightly.

"Oh, Shinoooookie, don't be such a sour creature." Despite the woman's odd ways, she is remarkably in tune with her pet, and can sense her mood.

"Oh, Katelyn, don't give me that crap. You very well know it is pronounced 'Shin- oak' You were the one who gave me the name!" her eyes narrow an inch further as her lips threaten to pull up to reveal sharp teeth.

"I'm guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the cushion today. Now, don't snarl at me Misses Sassy Tail." With a giggle, the lady swoops over Shinoke and snatches her from her pillow, then swings her around.

"Honestly, lady, you act like a five year old around me. Whatever happened the icy woman most people have to face?" She lightly puts her mouth on her trainer's arm, letting teeth rest on bare skin. With out a moment's hesitation, the woman swats her vaporeon's nose, still refusing to release Shinoke from her arms. After another nanosecond of allowing her trainer to cuddle her, the vaporeon wriggles out of the arms and leaps back onto her pillow. "The indignity of it all." She huffs.

This insane woman is her fourth owner, and typically, she would leave she felt her trainer were not fit for her. However, this woman is the one that works in a place that is advantageous to her. She had gone through quite a bit to get to the 'perfect' trainer, and she is not going to throw it all away. This owner works in the Stardom Underworks laboratory, and this is where she, Shinoke, belongs.

To herself, she thinks _Katelyn is insane, but she works in the right place, and though I don't necessarily believe everything the SU does is alright, it does great things… but also awful things as well. Because of the pokémon that suffer, new medicines for both pokémon and humans are coming out, and possibly new pokémon. From what I've heard, this place is destined for great things… if that's true, I'll be a part of it from the start…_ she trails away from her thinking, reluctant to even think about what she is going to think about while in this place, for the dangers of even thinking along the lines of what she was going to think are very, very bad.

Shinoke looks towards the woman, who has returned to her typing. Seeing she is busy, Shinoke stealthily slips out the door, and a corridor that makes up the huge labyrinth the Stardom Underworks lab is. However maze like the lab is, it is nothing to Shinoke, who has come to know it like the back of her paw. Without truly thinking, she lets her paws take her around corners, through long halls, and past doorways, until she ends up at one the sections where the pokémon are held.

One would think that keeping pokémon in pokéballs would be easier, but in truth it is not. Too easily, the balls are misplaced, or jumbled up, and it is impossible to monitor the pokémons' reactions and general health to different tests. Because of this difficulty, the Stardom Underworks lab doesn't attempt to keep the pokémon in the capture devices. Instead, there are rows upon rows of large stainless steel cages that protrude from the walls, layered upon each other, from floor to a height that requires even the tallest of people to use a stool to reach the pokémon. This section holds pokémon that have just arrived and need evaluation

The variety of pokémon is stunning. Pokémon from regions Shinoke has only heard of pace in their cages. Every type of pokémon is here. Ghost, electric, fire, water, grass, bug, normal, ground, rock, flying, steel, ice, fighting, and even a few dragon, the list goes on and on. When her eyes light upon a desperate gengar attempting to rid itself of its cage, Shinoke does a double take. She wonders how those seemingly ordinary cages are able to detain a ghost type. For a moment, her brow wrinkles with thought, then she sighs, deciding to leave complex ideas and theories for the scientists.

One such scientist, with whom she has an odd relationship, spots her. Panic makes his eyes widen as he jolts towards her, while exclaiming "Shoo, get out Shinoke, get out! I don't have time for your pranks!" he flaps his hands at her, however she merely ignores him. With a sigh, he rubs the stubble on his chin, and then strolls over to her. With a boot clad foot, he nudges her side, attempting to dislodge her stubbornness. "Out, shoo, leave, NOW!" He grits his teeth, then bends down to pick her up, which is the worst possible thing to do. Without even blinking, she spins, slapping his face with her tail, then stops once she is facing him again, only to lunge and bite his hand.

With what sounds to be a playful growl, she taunts "How tough are you without your high-tech machinery? Apparently, not tough at all." The man half way surprises Shinoke when he chuckles, for he is hard to offend. Rolling her eyes, she sighs "You'd think you'd learn, Professor. We go through something like this Every. Single. Day." With a flick of her tail, she sashays towards the door, only pausing to twist the lock and open the door to an aipom's cage. Without looking back, she leaves as a mild case of chaos appears in the room.

Having done something interesting, she sets back on her informal patrol, stopping here and there to visit other rooms. However, none of the other rooms she visits have to deal with her impish behavior, and only see the 'angel' side of her, for she seems content to terrorize only one room, and only that professor. Interestingly enough, none of the other professors in the other rooms believe the professor she always visits first, when he calls her words like 'devil', 'prankster', 'evil', or even 'troublesome'. Nor do they listen when he proclaims that she must 'be contained, or at least kept away from that room!'.

Once she has finished her patrol, she returns to her trainer's room, but is puzzled when Katelyn isn't there, and the room is dark. _This time of day, she is always working. It's not part of her schedule to leave the room, or take a nap… _Mildly worried, she hesitantly steps into the dim room, then softly calls out "Katelyn? Trainer? Where are you?" The sound of footsteps make her whirl around.

The source is not her trainer, rather a large Mightyena, who says softly "She's not here... I suggest you go find her before the day ends."

Fur bristles and her Elizabethan-collar like ruff at the base of her chin bristles when she demands "Where is she?"

Yellow eyes blink as he says "She went to the avian hold, where people were trying to subdue a raging charizard."

Shinoke blanches then nods, and forces out the words "Thank you." Then she whirls around, racing off to find the trainer whom she both loves and hates.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight- Sarendepetie

A forked lavender tail runs its way across the blushing cheek of an absol, who quickly looks away. "Sarendepetie, what the Hell do you want?" he growls at the lavender furred pokémon.

Amethyst eyes flash as a soft voice purrs "Nothing much… just a little favor."

"You can flirt all you want, you won't get whatever it is you're after, espeon."

Sarendepetie chuckles and bats at the absol's head-scythe. "I'm not flirting."

"Oh, really… then what's the set up for?" The absol motions with his head to the wall behind his back, and the flickering light that threatens to die any minute. Cobwebs coat the ceiling corners or the unused warehouse. Somehow, the two of them had veered away from the group of pokémon, and gotten 'lost'.

Underneath a crimson jewel, wide eyes blink once, as Sarendepetie cocks her head to the side. "I don't know what you mean… this is the warehouse we're examining to see if it'll make a suitable temporary base for Safeguard… Why do you have to make so many assumptions Jeat?"

Jeat, the absol, huffs, avoiding her question "Saren, let's get back to work and find our scout group." Carefully, he pushes past Sarendepetie. Despite his distrust towards her, he has to be careful not to offend her, for she still is his superior. Without looking back, he sets to work, searching for any signs of recent activity, and searches for his group. Watching her partner become swallowed by the darkness, Sarendepetie smiles. After a small pause, she gets up, and trots to catch up.

After a minute of skillfully maneuvering through the dark building, she sees Jeat muttering and walking, trying to find their group. She hangs back, refusing to let a good eavesdropping get away. Quietly, she pads behind, letting her large ears pick up her partner's quiet mutterings.

"Honestly, that little bitch should stay where she belongs. She's a secretary, so she should be with the other organizers, gathering information from informants, and trying to figure out how to best sabotage the SU-PP connection, or how make a better evacuation system to get the pokémon out of the breeding center, or the laboratories. Who does she think she is, butting into the scout troop's business? She has no reason to, and as far as I know, no grudges to drive her to want to help. That pampered little…." The absol speeds, up and out of hearing range. Eager to continue listening, Sarendepetie quickens her pace as well. Jeat's voice meets her ears again "… not like me, or any of the other teammates. Scout Troop Extrinsic is obviously for pokémon outside this region, so I guess she would fit, if she truly did belong… but she doesn't. She lives her cushioned life as a secretary, and doesn't belong. Not at all. Wh-"

Seeing that Jeat's mumbling isn't going about anything truly interesting, she runs up, as she calls "Jeat, there you are! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find you!"

Jeat jumps a bit, then turns around, a grimace tugging at his mouth "Oh, it's you."

Sarendepetie smiles, showing off her fangs as she lopes behind the absol "Who else would it be?" From behind, she dashes between his legs, and walks underneath him, careful not to let any fur touch his belly.

"Whoa!" Jeat cries, and tries to step over her so he is no longer on top of her. However, she moves with him, as he jolts about. He steps about, trying to get so that she is no longer walking underneath him. Before he can disengage himself from her, their group appears from the murky depths of the building.

An electrike snickers "Looks like the two of you were having a bit of fun while we were scouting?"

Jeat shakes his head furiously "No, I have better morals and taste than that!" He shoots a glare towards the espeon walking under him.

With a sigh, she steps out from underneath him and smirks at the group in front of her. _What idiots_, she thinks to herself, _they are. I wouldn't run around getting myself screwed unless there was a very, very good reason for it._ She turns to the electrike and purrs "So, Minayte, the building hasn't been used in a while, correct?" When she says the word correct, any flirtatious demur vanishes, and she stares him in the eyes, as the red gem set in her forehead glints eerily.

Minayte growls slightly under her glare, then blinks and nods coldly.

Crisply, she responds "Very good. Now follow me back to base to report."

A chingling in the back of the group speaks up, her voice holding a slight challenge in it. "But, you are the one we'd report to. What exactly _is_ the point of coming with this group Ms. Sarendepetie?"

"Oh this is just for field experience." She says with a touch of danger.

Sensing the conversation is going downhill, Jeat interrupts "So, Saren, do you think the Safeguard will move here temporarily?"

Sarendepetie focuses on Jeat. Curtly, she responds "It isn't for me to decide, I'll have to tell the advisors of the leader, so they can tell the leader, so the leader can decide." With a flick of her tail, she turns, walking in the general direction of the exit. The Scout Troop falls behind, but keeps a good deal of space between her and them. As far off as they are, and as low as they speak, Saren is still able to hear their grumblings with her sensitive ears. To herself she chuckles, _it seems they think badly of me… yet they haven't truly a clue who I am. Oh, if they knew, how they'd despise me._

The group, after almost a day's march, files in to the 'base' of the Safeguard. The sun bleeds red, staining the sky as the night slays it, pushing it away. Evening reveals the base is hole that dives deep into the side of a cliff. The hole, not quite deep enough to be called a cave, houses a large group of haggard looking pokémon. The group is large, more than a hundred pokémon, many of which are not native to the Kanto region.

Streaming towards this collection are many groups of pokémon, much like the group of four that Saren leads. Slowly the groups gather around the cave, but try to stay spread apart, in an attempt to make things seem natural. The Scout Troops send one of theirs to deliver whatever it is that they were sent to retrieve, be it information, food, or goods. Then, the one representative would talk to their secretary, then leave with their group, to rest not far away for the night, then to go back, searching for something else.

After a while, once the sky is inky and the stars shining bright, Saren's group approaches. Saren rushes into the cave to take her spot, and then one of the group, the electrike Minayte, follows. Clearing his throat, he rolls his eyes and then says "Mrs. Sarendepetie, we have found a suitable new location. It is a large abandoned warehouse that seems to have held wares. It is approximately a day's march from here, heading north east."

"Very good. Go rest, and..." She looks down, to the ground in front of the cushion on which she sits. On the ground are scrawled several notes. She skims them then says "…go search for medical potions. Antidotes and potions please."

"Yes madame."

"Thank you, you are excused. On your way out, if you see my second scout troop, will you tell them to come on in?"

"Of course." With a sigh, the electrike leaves.

Once he is gone, she uses her tail to sweep away the scrawling in the dirt. With an angelic smile, she looks up when the representative for her second troop arrives. "Why hello, do you have the greatballs I asked for?"

The pokémon nods "Yes, I do."

Saren thinks to herself _This is working perfectly… just a few more steps, and then I can set it into action._

**Well, there you all go, the characters have been introduced! So, what do you think? I want you to honestly answer these questions in your review: Are my characters' personalities different from each other, or do they all sound vaguely alike? Do you like them? And do you have a favorite? **


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, now that all eight eons have been introduced, they'll be forced to share chapters. I'll probably write with two or three characters in one chapter. If you object, scream it to the world.**

Chapter nine- What the Hell am I Doing?

^-Flitt-^

Rays of light, too bright for sleepy eyes, radiate onto Flitt's face, drawing her from the depths of sleep. With a groan, she swooshes her tail, frustrated by those incessant bits of light that collect on her face. Her swishing tail connects with Omaly's face, making him wake up, eyes dilated, fur standing on end, and a hiss erupting from his mouth. He leaps up, searching for his attacker. In the process, he steps on Flitt's tail, making her cry out. "Arceus damn it! Watch it you idiot! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

Omaly forces his bad mood away, and stands still for a moment, counting to ten. With a deep sigh, he turns to Flitt. "… Flitt, I don't know if you realize this or not, but your tail smacked me in the face. I do enjoy eating when I wake up, but tail fur is not what I was planning."

Flitt glares at her companion "Well, that's your problem." With a huff, she lays her head back onto the tall grass, and rolls so her back is facing him.

Omaly pauses for a moment, holding back any rude comments, trying not to let Flitt test his patience. Another sigh, this one closer to a growl, flies from between fangs, as he walks over to the grouchy eevee. Though he is all of a foot away from her, every step in the long grass makes an annoyingly loud rustle, which is also the reason the two decided to bed there the night before, so they could have a bit of protection in an open area. Another few steps and he is practically standing on her. Gingerly, he pokes her fluffy cream ruff, then recoils slightly, expecting her to try to tackle him. When she doesn't, he pokes her chestnut back, this time slightly harder. When he receives no response, he gently bites her ear. When he still receives no response, he turns to go back to sleep, when something starts crashing through the long grass in their direction.

Flitt leaps up at the disturbance, eyes wild, uncertain whether to flee or fight. Her fur bristles slightly, and she bares her little teeth, obviously choosing the latter. A quick and decisive shake of Omaly's head makes her sheathe her fangs. Despite the fact she distrusts Omaly as a pokémon, she trusts him as a source of reliable ideas, for his ideas have yet to fail them.

As the rustling draws closer, Omaly drops to the ground, and Flitt follows suite. Then, she mimics him as he starts crawling to the right, in West's general direction, and away from the noise at an angle. After a moment or so or furious crawling, they get a reasonable distance from the source of the noise. Omaly motions to the ground, signaling the eevee to stay low. Then, very cautiously, he peeps above the tall grass, trying to see what the noise is.

Flitt stays low, watching Omaly sit up slightly. Her fur refuses to stay flat, and her heart is thudding hard, but for reasons she hasn't a clue. After what seems like an eternity, Omaly gets back down, a bit more relaxed then before. Eager for the conclusion, she practically stuffs her ear in his mouth, wanting to hear what he has to say.

In a whisper so quiet it seems a memory, he says "It's just a group of people. Two boys, one girl, and a pikachu." All the while, his ears are twitching, trying to keep track of the people's progress, so he knows they can't take the two of them by surprise.

Flitt breathes a sigh of relief. Softly she says "Maybe we should stop sleeping in long grass."

"… No, this is actually safer than anywhere else in the open. We're able to hear anything coming our way, and few come through the grass."

"But," she huffs, her voice a bit louder than it should be, "I don't _like_ sleeping in the grass."

"Shush, not now, shush."

She whines "But why? They're gone!"

"I'll tell you why in a moment, let's get to tree over there." Quiet as the whisper of spring, he darts from the grass, across the patch of flat land, to the shade of the tree. Without complaining, Flit does the same.

"Why?" she says, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"Because you never know when danger i-"

"No, not that, I want to know why we aren't traveling on a route?"

"Because routes are well traveled, and we'd draw attention to ourselves. Eevee are rare here, and delcatties are unheard of."

Omaly talks more, but Flitt opts to tune him out, instead, she dives back into her own thoughts. _What am I doing? This isn't worth it, why should I go all the way to Viridian Forest? I HATE living outside! It gets cold, and the ground is hard, and there's always 'danger' here or there. Honest to Arceus, Omaly needs to cool it…. And gosh darn it, I'm sooooo hungry!_

Omaly blinks once, mildly annoyed at being interrupted. "Of course you are, I am too."

"Wait… what?" For a moment, Flitt is positive that Omaly has just read her mind. Then, after a nanosecond's thought, she realizes she'd been thinking so hard, she'd actually said the last sentence aloud. "Oh, yeah. So, can you go get us some food that isn't raw, bloody, or in need of being cooked? Do you know how disturbing it is, knowing I'm eating something that was alive a minute or two ago?"

Omaly replies "What do you want me to do, conjure pokéfood out of midair?"

Flitt sticks her tongue out at him. "Yes." She says facetiously.

"Eevee, your sarcasm is not appreciated." Omaly sighs. "Come here, you want to be wild, but you haven't a clue what to do. Today, you're going to learn how to hunt, catch food, and eat it."

"eew… what if I don't want to?"

"Would you rather die?"

"Maybe… I mean, you don't know where these pokémon have been, or what they've eaten."

"Well then, how about this? I show you how to hunt, and once you have an idea how to, I'll stop providing food, and you'll have to get it yourself."

"Ummm… No."

"Brat."

"You bet'cha." Omaly grits his teeth and his eyes narrow. His patience is thin and might snap. To Flitt, it seems as if he is reconsidering his decision to help her. Suddenly, to her, the possibility of being abandoned and alone is an all too real reality. Ears droop back, and she lowers her head in submission. "Oh, I know what you're thinking, but please, don't do it! I don't want to be alone and die!" she wails, and looks at him through wide eyes.

"What? … Flitt, why would I abandon you?"

"Because I'm a self absorbed brat who purposefully needles you because I'm bored!"

Omaly rolls his eyes at the melodrama. "Don't be a drama queen. Even if I did leave you, your not that far from the Forest, and you survived about a week by yourself… how _did_ you manage to survive by yourself if you can't even catch yourself food."

"Oh, I didn't."

"… what?" Omaly looks at her, and appears mildly confused.

Feeling the need to elaborate, Flitt says "Well, I had a lot of help escaping the Stardom Underworks, and I traveled with a group until I got to Diglett's Cave, because the group would be going a different way than I decided to go. And, the caves aren't as clean as they could be. Travelers leave so much trash, even with people going in to try to keep it clean, there's more than enough trash and food scraps to keep a small pokémon well fed for weeks."

"Really?" Black curious eyes silently ask for more.

But, Flitt says no more about that subject. With a bright grin, she replies "Really. Well, what about the food? Can we please follow those people and steal some of their pokéfood? Please?"

"Maybe… if we don't have luck hunting." With a nod to her, he starts walking, searching for potential play. After barely noticeable hesitation, she gets up to follow him.

-Sintaleate-

Heavy breathes escape his mouth, as panting, he tries to keep up. His bruised side screams its pain, throbbing with every footfall. Though the run is not far, Sintaleate's weakened condition makes the distance seem like miles. He has fallen far behind the hoot-hoot, but knows where the hoot-hoot will be. With a grimace, he pushes his body to continue running those last few yards.

He stumbles onto the field to see the hoot-hoot frantically searching the area. Though he has no idea what the message looks like, or whom it is for, he assumes it is the hoot-hoot's master's letter to some person or another. Needing an idea what to look for he calls out "What does your trainer's letter look like?"

The hoot-hoot shakes his head. "It's not my master's, heck, I haven't seen my master in … almost a year." A grimace shows the hoot-hoot's master is off topic.

He figures the hoot-hoot's master abandoned him in this region, but not wanting to probe, Sintaleate merely nods "Oh, alright. Well, can you give me a description of the letter?"

The hoot-hoot flaps his wings in aggravation "It's the same color as this damn grass, and rather small, about the size of your paw."

"Why, that's like looking for a needle in a haystack!"

The hoot-hoot nods "Only worse." Then, he looks at the jolteon and notices that underneath his pointed fur, that he is bruised. "That looks like it hurts. Don't strain yourself looking for it."

"Right, I'll do that… um… It seems I never did catch your name."

The hoot-hoot doesn't look up from searching in the ground when he says "Not."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard correctly. You said your name was not what?"

"No, my name is Not, I am called Not."

"Oh." _Wow, what a horrible thing to call ones pokémon._ Sintaleate thinks to himself. "Well, my name in Sintaleate."

With his face just inches from the grass, Not nods his head. "Nice to meet you."

Sintaleate nods back, then looks with mild dismay at the grass underneath his feet, which stretches across the large field before him. Then, an idea crosses his mind. "Not, may I smell you?"

Cocking an eyebrow, Not replies "What for?"

"Well, your message would smell like you, correct? I mean, you've been carrying it for quite a while I assume, and if it does, I might be able to find it relatively quickly with my nose."

"Oh, well, that's an interesting idea. Go ahead."

Sintaleate trots up to the hoot-hoot and snuffles around his foot. "Okay, I've got your scent. Now, do you remember if the wind was blowing when you accidently dropped your letter?"

"Uuuuuhhhhh…. No, not really."

"Oh, well then, let's see… I was soaking my paw, and you circled over head, and it fell somewhere behind me, but I was able to see it in my peripheral vision…." Musing, Sintaleate mutters slightly to himself, then shoves his nose towards the ground and starts sniffing. He snorts, then inhales another draft of smells, then mentally sifts through them, searching for only one faint odor. Unable to find it in the mess, he takes a slight step forward, then to his right, trying to imagine where it would have landed. Then, another snuffle, snort and sifting. Once more, there is not a single sign.

Countless more times he repeats the process while Not searches with his eyes. The sun drags closer and closer towards the ground, and still no success. Though it has been a while, the arduous process takes time, and Sintaleate has only covered a small portion of the field. His large ears prick when he hears a high pitched whistle. He pauses a moment, the hears it again, only slightly closer. With a grunt, he lifts up his head and searches for Eric, his trainer. Eventually, Eric walks in sight, and sees Sintaleate. With a wave he calls out "Come on, it's getting late!"

Sintaleate heaves a sigh and says to Not "I've gotta go. I'll be back about three hours after dark."

Not, who has hidden, so as not to be seen by Eric, replies from some tall grass "I'll be here, waiting."

Sintaleate turns towards his trainer and slowly lopes towards him. "Yanno Eric, I'm awfully hungry. Do you have any food with you?"

Once again, Eric fails to understand his companion. "There you are Sin. I was beginning to worry. And, you left a huge mess of ice all over the floor in our room. I almost slipped on one of those pieces."

"Ah, even if you did, you'd live." Sintaleate growls good naturedly. Despite his master's oblivious nature, he still can't help but love Eric as a great trainer. As Eric turns to go back to the pokécenter, the jolteon limps beside him, not a footstep in front, nor behind. To himself, he sighs "I've gotta remember not to fall asleep, and to remember to return back to the field of mess I've gotten myself into."

**If any of you readers see any grammar errors or tense problems, and you aren't too lazy, feel free to point them out in your review or in a PM. I don't get annoyed by corrections, because once they're fixed, it's easier for the reader to read it.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Why hello silent-readers-who-don't-feel-the-need-to-give-reviews-and-tell-me-what-they-think-of-my-story, how are you in your silent glory? Do you like the story? Oh wait, I don't really know how you feel about the story because you don't feel like reviewing, and you guys are fine leaving me to guess. Ahem… if you aren't going to review, check out my profile page and vote on my poll… your answers may or may not decide how the story will change**

Chapter ten- Swift

-Netel-

Tan feet skim across the forest floor, barely making contact. Green leaves flap in the wind, as Netel races across the woodland. For now, he is tireless, using photosynthesis to keep his body energized, and full of essential nutrients. His fit sleek body barely registers the fact that he has been running for several hours, dodging past pokémon, through briar patches, and avoiding oblivious trainers. His heartbeat is steady and slow. Perhaps he has his ability to perform photosynthesis to thank, for he has the help of his leaves to 'breathe' from more than just his mouth. Once the photosynthesis is complete, the excess oxygen is sent to his lungs to mingle with the air collected through his mouth to be used by his body.

_How efficient this is_, he thinks to himself, _there is no waste, and I have much more endurance than a regular pokémon. I don't see why other pokémon haven't adapted to be more like most plant pokémon._ His idle thoughts don't portray any anxiety on his part, considering the position he is in. Apparently, the pokémon won't be arriving at the forest any time soon, and he is to go and attempt to find them in less than twenty four hours. Yet again, not having to stop to eat, or even drink has its advantages. Being able to run through the occasional stream to absorb water doesn't slow him down, and it gives him an idea of his general whereabouts.

To himself, as he wades through a small stream, he mutters "A bit more south, possibly west, and then some, and searching the area off of the routes. No biggie. I can go on and on and on and oooonnn~" He cheerfully starts humming to himself, unable to resist the urge to break out into song. "Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard. Their shadows searching in the night. Street lights people, living just to find emotion, hiding, somewhere in the night." He pauses, unsatisfied with the lyrics, then redoes the last four words "Somewhere in the day." Satisfied, he nods curtly once, then speeds up his already swift pace. He continues singing, but the wind wipes away the last words when he says "Don't stop believing…."

At last, he arrives at the outskirts of the forest. Without a though, he bounds into the tall grass, still humming softly under his breath. He continues his prancing for a bit, taking a moment or two to sniff at some insects or flowers, then settles down to business. His ears, which where standing straight up, slowly fall down, closer to his body, and his tail swooshes closer to the ground. A delicate nose starts to twitch, sifting through scents to try and identify an eevee. He slides through the tall wavy grass, making a beeline for a boulder which juts from the grass like an island from the sea.

He circles it once or twice, and then settles in its shade away from sight. After looking around, his eyes focus on a few pidey and spearow sit in a tree and talk among themselves. Unable to hear their gossip, he strains his ears and manages to pick up strands of words. "Did you…. Dust… good for feathers… No, the… chucked a pokeball…hurt! That stupid… and his pokém... ought to peck…." The conversation continues in this general fashion, and after a while, he rolls his eyes at the birds' senseless chatter. His roving eyes locate other pokémon, and again he eavesdrops on their conversations, but this time he has to move a bit further away from his rock to fully hear the wisps of conversation floating his way. After a while, none prove useful for his search. He sighs then heaves himself up to move on.

He turns south, and then begins a swift trot, which occasionally makes its way into a leisurely lope. As the shadows move from directly beneath foot to stretch slightly, he finds another potential place to search. It is south and west of the first area, and the trail is not too far away. Apart from a few different trees, one would be unable to tell the difference between the two locations. Netel nestles himself in the roots of a tree. The first two or three conversations prove as useless as the others in the first location, but after a few more minutes, he strikes gold. A sandshrew and a farfetch'd are arguing, and intrigued, he crawls closer, just enough to hear the full argument. "Listen Peltrin, just because you have a _plant stalk_ to hit me with doesn't mean you're right. That delcatty didn't belong. Foreigners have been flooding this region, and they don't leave. Some steps should be taken to remove them from this nation, or at least stop the flow of immigrants into here. In my opinion, the least he can do is stay with his trainer or back where he came from."

"Shush Raul, you must have sand in your ears. They are all pokémon, and we have no right to judge them. Your opinions shouldn't affect how you treat other pokémon. They had no choice, their trainers brought them here. Forces they can't control tossed them here. All he did was ask us to tell him where we thought the best hunting place was. He didn't ask for a rant on your part. And that poor eev-"

"Ah shut the fu- Ouch! Will you stop hitting me with that damned plant of yours?"

"No."

"We've been arguing since morning! Can't we stop?"

"Not until we solve our differences!"

"Stubborn bird! You can be such an ass sometimes!"

Netel grins, for the bickering pokémon have just told him that his quarry passed at the most fourteen hours ago. He nonchalantly nibbles on the leaf part of his ear, trying to think where to go. He figures several large circles around the area will reveal to him some sign of where the delcatty and eevee went. Be it a pawprint or a simple clump of fur, he doesn't care. Right now, the brevity of the tracking and the reclaiming is all that matters.

Having come to a decision, he grins, but this one is more savage than the previous ones. Fangs glint in the afternoon light as he starts a slow and casual walk around the perimeter of the area, careful to hide from sight and erase his trail. No signs of the eevee urges him to walk more, circling the area in larger and larger circles. After almost an hour passes, he notices branches from a shrub have been broken, as if something has brushed through them. Closer examination reveals a minute strand of silky tan fur, probably that of an eevee's. Though not enough to scent track with, it does point him in the right direction.

Pleased by the outcome of his search, he feels a song bubble up in his throat. Softly, he hums a small ditty as he trots through the slightly crumpled tall grass away from the forest towards a knoll on a hill by a tree. Sometimes, backtracking is more useful than rushing forward blindly. From there, he is able to see the track of the delcatty and eevee, which is cutting through the land in the general direction of the forest. The tune softens to practically nothing as he sets to work tracking.

His damp button nose twitches almost dragging in the dirt, as he snuffles around, his paws tapping up and down in a little dance while he searches for the scent of the paw-pads. Sifting though scents of the grass, other pokémon, ground, water… and blood. His head flies up as he snorts, trying to clear the other scents from his nose. _Why blood?_ He thinks to himself, _Is there any way it is linked to the eevee or the delcatty? Oh, if this is a lead, and I don't give it any thought, that'll cost me time, but if it isn't, or just some random injured pokémon, and I'm wasting time, that's bad…_ He makes a snap decision, and decides that the blood scent is too old to be of any use anyways. He snorts again, to clear out all scents, then shoves his nose back to the ground.

After a few minutes, he calls off his sniffing, deeming it useless until later. With a shrug, he mutters "You can't win every time." A decisive swish of his tail is followed by a quick reel around so he is facing towards the forest, then he lopes off, determined to follow his quarry to the ends of the earth if need be.

It doesn't take long for him to be swallowed up by his forest, soon cloaked in familiar sights and sounds, his already relaxed posture somehow manages to loosen up even more, barely hinting at the fact that he was slightly nervous outside of his domain. He breathes deeply, reveling in the damp and earth, but clean and fresh smell that is common in all clean forests. Confidence courses through his veins, for here, scents linger longer, and thus, his tracking should be a breeze.

~Shinoke~

_Faster, faster, faster, faster!_ Shinoke urges herself forward, trying to outrun gruesome thoughts. As her paws clink over the waxed tiled floor, as she flashed past door after door, sliding through turns, the thoughts grow worse. Images of her trainer, charred and twitching, or clawed to shreds makes her worry. Though she tells herself she is just worried for her trainer's safety, she can't deny the fact that she is more worried about what would happen to her if her owner were killed. When images of her stuffed into a pokéball, or given to some other owner, even tossed out of the Stardom Underworks pass through her mind, she cringes. Any thoughts of her hard work being wasted if she is tossed out to watch the SU reach success without her make her sick.

At last, full of dread, she catapults into the spacious avian hold. Several raging fires light the chamber bright and fill the air with smoke. She coughs, gagging on the swirls of ash that dance through the air, spiraling from the fire. The source of the bonfires, a massive charizard, flails his wings and buffets the people below with their wind. Shinoke gasps she sees him open his mouth. "Idiot humans," he bellows, "How dare you think you could contain me! Your puny machinery and pokémon will never bring me down alive! I REFUSE to serve pond scum like you! I, Lord Wrathallon, king of the proud dragons which reside in the-"

His exclamations are cut short by a powerful command "Dewgong, use water pulse!" The command is obeyed without hesitation, and water surrounds the dragon pokémon, drenching his flames for mere seconds.

Shinoke looks to the speaker, recognizing the voice. It is her trainer. Her bun has many flyaways, which are whipped about by the charizard's wings' winds. Five pokéballs are strapped to her waist, all of which have a water seal on them, indicating she has chosen some of her strongest water pokémon for this battle. The pokémon are hard at work, fighting along side other pokémon teams from other experienced trainers.

Relieved to see that her trainer is not hurt, Shinoke dashes over to her, not caring that her mermaid-like tail is dragging through soot. "Katelyn!" Shinoke shouts, "Katelyn, you're alive!"

A grin graces her trainer's face. Katelyn replies "There you are Shnookie Wookems! I was worried about you! Okay, focus a powerful water gun on that monstrosity, will you darling?" Shinoke for once doesn't grimace at her trainer's pet name for her. Without a moment's hesitation, she does as asked, putting all her energy into attempting to drown Lord Wrathallon.

However, despite all the water pouring onto him, Wrathallon manages to shout "Beware! I will not be brought down by such simple methods! I will rip you all to shreds! Your heads shall be gifts to my dearest betrothed, who does so enjoy the occasional head to snack on. Your paws and hands will be play toys for the hatchlings to nibble on! Your skins and furs will line my cave! Your-"

The pokémon, though intimidated, have gotten bored by the long winded exclamations. They double their attempts, and manage to douse the massive dragon enough for him to have to focus more energy on making sure he can still breathe. However, water attacks can't last forever, and the pokémon have to stop to catch their breath, all the while attempting to dodge the charizard's fearsome talons, teeth, and attacks.

A spurt of fire hurtles towards some trainer, who tries to drop to the ground. As he does, a pokémon, obviously his, shoots to his side, despite the fact this is not needed, and that the trainer is safe. However, when it gives his cheek a lick, it's side is caught by the edge of a huge firespin. Most of the skin smolders away, and the poor pokémon cries out as the scent of it's bubbling burnt skin joins the collage of other scents swirling around the room. Though the wound is not fatal, what follows is. Lord Wrathallon sweeps his wiry tail towards the two beings, and makes sure the fire tip engulfs them as it batters them as well. The two partners go up in flames, as the other water pokémon frantically try to douse their pains away.

Seeing the majority of his opponents occupied or at the brink of death, he bellows out a cry of victory, and swoops up several pokémon in his claws. One, he crushes and then swallows whole, and holding the other one, he labors his way to the top of the room, many stories above the floor, and chucks it down to it's death.

Shinoke cries out with the pokémon, almost feeling it's pain. The charizard makes another rush towards the ground, being sure to try to stir up the air with his wings. Hot embers fly around in the strong winds, and one of them singes Shinoke's delicate frill around her neck. Yelping, she reels back, and trips and tumbles to the ground, managing to cover her blue fur with black soot. She springs back up, trying to keep an eye on Lord Wrathallon, but it is difficult, for the air is ever growing thick and dark from the smoke.

More fires pop up with each minute, burning bodies, and creating noxious fumes which swirl around. The heat and the smoke agitate the humans and the pokémon, making them cough and fight for each breath. Around her, Shinoke sees more and more pokémon fainting and dying merely from the lack of good oxygen.

More pokémon and trainers are occasionally rushing in from the door, but many back away, and leave when they see the scene unrolled before them. "Cowards!" Shinkoke spits at several pokémon that dash in, only to reel around and flee for the door.

One of them, a wartortle looks back at her and calls out "Your cause is lost, and you'll die soon if you don't get out! The humans are planning on sealing this room along with anything in it soon! There was no saving my sister, but maybe you can save yourself!" Then, he dashes back to the door across the room. For a moment, Shinoke feels her feet moving towards the door, but she stops herself. Tempting as it is to follow them, she refrains, wanting to see that her insurance to ultimate power stays alive and gets to safety. She looks over to Katelyn, who is still trying to battle, despite having starting violently coughing and retching. Exasperated, she dashes over to her trainer "Katelyn, you're going to die, let's get out of here!" Katelyn more or less ignores her, only looking at her to request that she uses a water gun on the charizard.

Determined not to die, Shinoke grabs hold of her trainer's hand, sinking her teeth into flesh, and drawing blood. Still gripping Katelyn's hand, she runs, and her trainer has no choice but to try to follow, for fear of ripping her hand even more. After what seems like an eternity of dancing around dead carcasses, rushing through soot and smoke, and avoiding the increasingly random fire moves from the charizard, Shinoke finds the door.

Once outside, she is met by mass hysteria. Several men block the people attempting to enter the room, only moving to let creatures and humans out of the room. One such man moves aside when he sees Shinoke and Katelyn to help them away from the door. To Katelyn, he says "go to room three hundred thirty seven, your wounds will be attended to." Katelyn is barely able to nod, much less move on her own, so Shinoke continues leading. Shinoke walks with Katelyn through the crown. Around them woman and men shout and cry for their loved pokémon or friends.

One professor, clearly fed up, shouts "You must let my pass! I have my avian pokémon in the cell not far away from the main room where the charizard is! They could die! We have experiments that are resting in the avian ward, and nurses in their with them trying to get them to recover. If we don't get someone to fetch the pokémon and nurses, valuable data shall be lost!"

The men guarding the door shout back "We can't allow you to do that. Don't panic, we have contacted the nurses, who had the common sense to lock themselves in the wards, and seal all entrances. They report that the pokémon are doing fine, and request that we re-direct the air flow, to only specified rooms, which has been done. Now we will be forced to seal this doorway completely, in hopes of killing the charizard in there, because right now, this is the only opening in that room, and it is supplying oxygen which is keeping it alive. All the fire and smoke will quickly eat up the oxygen in there once we completely seal the door, so in twenty four hours, when we re-open the door, it will be dead, for it is impossible to break through our walls."

Outrage ensues after the men's attempt to calm the crowd. Shouts like "My pokémon are in there!", "I can't let Charles die, he's in there with that dragon!", and such almost manage to overpower the roars that vibrate through the walls.

Ignoring the crowd, the men proceed to close and lock the door, being sure the seal is activated and working. When the door clunks shut, most of the noise is muffled, and the crowd stops shouting to stare in disbelieving silence. However, it is quickly shattered, and the crowd proceeds to rush towards the men, no longer respecting authority.

Shinoke hurries, trying to move through the raging crowd with Katelyn in tow. After what seems an eternity, she and her master finally break through to the other side. Panting, she looks up to Katelyn with a smile on her face, and gasps.


	11. Chapter 11

**I (obviously) haven't worked on this story in a loooooong time. Right now, it is on hiatus until I decide to re-write it. I should have the revised chapters 1- 10 done and posted soon. Once that is finished, I'll come back and edit this with chapter 11. However, in the mean time I do have another story up. I think it's decent, however I'm making it up as I go along as I go. This means I have about as much of a clue as to where it is going as you do..****. Well, maybe a bit more than you, but still. Anyways, thank you all for your reviews and profile visits while I've been practically dead to this writing community.**


End file.
